“How the foreigners are eying Syrian territories and their efforts to break up this country are totally unacceptable under all circumstances,” said Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday.

The Iranian head of state made the remarks in Ankara while addressing the trilateral summit with his Russian and Turkish counterpart on the Syrian crisis.

He also offered thanks to his Turkish counterpart, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for hosting the 2nd Summit of Astana Peace Process Guarantor States.

“Around 15 months ago, Iran, Russia, and Turkey initiated the Astana Peace Process to further strengthen war on terrorism, counter religious, sectarian, and ethnic discrimination, extinguish the blaze of the conflicts, and finally establish comprehensive peace in Syria. And since then these objectives have been seriously followed,” reiterated the Iranian president.

The full text of President Hassan Rouhani’s address is as follows:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

Your Excellency Mr. Erdogan, President of the Republic of Turkey; Your Excellency Mr. Putin, President of the Russian Federation

First of all, I would like to thank Mr. Erdogan for hosting the second summit following the Astana process.

About 15 months ago, Iran, Russia and Turkey shaped the Astana process in order to have further success in the fight against terrorism, to combat religious and ethnic differentiation; to shut down the flames of conflict and finally to bring about a comprehensive peace in Syria, and have seriously pursued it since then. Determining the four de-escalation areas to reduce tensions in Syria could, after 6 years, be able to cushion the conflicts in various parts of the settlement of the major part of the Syrian population and strengthen the will of the opposing Syrian parties to stop the conflict.

Here, I deem it necessary to emphasize the key role of the three countries in ensuring the Astana process. If the three countries did not have the necessary coordination, and if the Syrian government did not have the right cooperation with the Astana process, we would now face a much more complex situation in Syria. So today, in order to complete this process, we must continue our efforts to establish peace and stability in Syria. Certainly, the valuable role of the Astana process has created a good atmosphere for the United Nations to play its role in this regard.

Although some governments have been sabotaging the Astana process since the beginning, international initiatives to resolve the Syrian crisis have, directly or indirectly, benefited from the Astana process, and even some of the provisions of the Security Council had already been coordinated by the three guarantors in the Astana process.

Although ISIL, al-Nusra and other terrorist groups have been seriously undermined and are on the brink of destruction, but unfortunately, some have continued to arm and use them, and have enabled terrorists to make their brutal acts against the Syrian people, including the residents of Damascus. The ongoing threat against the Syrian government for being subjected to foreign military action, the unceasing pressure to stop the crackdown on terrorist groups and the lack of attention to the balanced implementation of all paragraphs of Resolution 2401 has led to the ineffectiveness of this resolution and increased pressure on the Syrian people.